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Therefore, and not long after, the whole inhabited world was filled with his words. 16.9 What then could he say to this, the one who criticized us at the beginning of the discourse, since the testimony of sight is stronger than any argument? But moving on from the first point, come to another and consider within yourself: who ever in all time, having ordained pious and prudent laws by word alone without any writing, established them through his disciples from the ends of the earth and to the extremities of the whole inhabited world, having opened schools everywhere on earth, so that they might be readily read within the hearing of all men, barbarians and Greeks alike? But you would not find another if you searched. And this indeed was the work of our Savior alone, which, having been accomplished after his death, would be an indicator of his divine life and power. But not even this persuades the unbeliever. Therefore let him tell us, who long to learn, what other man renowned for wisdom has abolished the barbaric and savage customs of barbarian nations by his most humane laws, so that his disciples among the Scythians no longer practice cannibalism, nor among the Persians marry their mothers, nor do others cast their own dead to dogs, nor others give over their aged to strangulation, nor other cruel and brutish things kindred to these be done among others. But these are small proofs of our Savior's divine life after death. Behold indeed other things greater than these, considering who ever among men, for so many ages warred against by all men—by rulers and kings, citizens and armies, peoples and nations—and being warred against forever, has displayed superhuman virtue, so as to flourish daily and be renewed throughout all his life. And who else from all time, like our Savior, having willed to establish in his own name a nation never before heard of, has established this, not hidden in some corner of the earth but over all that is under the sun, bringing his will to fulfillment by the power of divine authority? And who ever purposed to teach all the nations to know and to worship God alone, the one beyond heaven and the whole universe? And then, having proposed such a purpose, brought the achievement to fruition, all but showing by its very working what was done to be beloved of God; which indeed most of all has shut every unbridled mouth, because, having proclaimed the most high God and having commanded all the nations to know him alone as true, as one who willed the things dear to God, he was deemed worthy of the cooperation and help of him who was being proclaimed. And behold and consider of what sort are the teachings that were included with such a proclamation, and delivered for all to hear, and confirmed by deed. Or what other man ever, having illumined the souls of men with rational light, prepared them to laugh at their ancestral error, so that they no longer attach the divine appellation to stones and wood nor to lifeless matter. And the Egyptians, the most superstitious of all, from whom the errors of polytheism also came to the Greeks, who else but our Savior persuaded them to be foolish no longer, nor indeed to render venerable honor to beasts and reptiles and the most dishonorable of irrational animals, but to know the God over all alone, and to contend for piety through all kinds of deaths. And who from all time, with an invisible and mighty hand, drove away from the flock of men, like terrible beasts, the harmful and destructive race of demons, which long ago preyed upon all human nature and displayed many deceptions among men through the movement of wooden images? And who other, as our Savior, through the invocation of him, by the purest prayers offered up through him to the God of all, gave authority to drive out the remnants of the evil spirits from men

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οὖν καὶ οὐκ εἰς μακρὸν ἡ σύμπασα οἰκουμένη τῶν αὐτοῦ λόγων ἐπληροῦτο. 16.9 τί οὖν ἔχοι ἂν πρὸς τοῦτο εἰπεῖν ὁ κατ' ἀρχὰς τοῦ λόγου ἡμῖν ἐπιμεμψάμενος, ὁπότε παντὸς λόγου κρείττων ἡ διὰ τῆς ὄψεως τυγχάνει μαρτυρία; ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ προτέρου μεταβάς, ἐλθὲ καὶ ἐφ' ἕτερον καὶ σκέψαι παρὰ σαυτῷ· τίς πώποτε ἐκ τοῦ παντὸς αἰῶνος νόμους εὐσεβεῖς καὶ σώφρονας λόγῳ μόνῳ δίχα πάσης γραφῆς διαταξάμενος, τούτους διὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ φοιτητῶν ἀπὸ περάτων γῆς καὶ εἰς ἄκρα τῆς ὅλης οἰκουμένης, διδασκαλεῖα πανταχοῦ γῆς ἀνοίξας, εἰς ἐπήκοον ἀνθρώποις πᾶσι βαρβάροις ὁμοῦ καὶ Ἕλλησιν ἀναγινώσκεσθαι ῥᾳδίως ἐκράτυνεν; ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν εὕροις ἐπιζητήσας ἄλλον. καὶ τοῦτο δὴ μόνου τοῦ ἡμετέρου σωτῆρος ἔργον ἦν, ὃ δὴ μετὰ τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ πεπραγμένον τῆς ἐνθέου ζωῆς τε καὶ δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ παραστατικὸν ἂν εἴη. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦτο πείθει τὸν ἀπειθῆ. οὐκοῦν ἡμῖν αὐτὸς λεγέτω ποθοῦσι μαθεῖν, ἢ τίς ποτε ἄλλος τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ βοηθέντων ἔθη βάρβαρα καὶ ἀνήμερα βαρβάρων ἐθνῶν τοῖς φιλανθρωποτάτοις αὐτοῦ παρέλυσε νόμοις, ὡς μηκέτι τοὺς αὐτῷ μαθητευομένους ἐν Σκύθαις ἀνθρωποβορεῖν, μηδ' ἐν Πέρσαις μητρογαμεῖν, μηδ' ἄλλους κυσὶ παραβάλλειν τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκρούς, μηδ' ἑτέρους ἀγχόνῃ παραδιδόναι τοὺς γεγη ρακότας, μηδ' ἕτερα τούτων ἀδελφὰ ὠμὰ καὶ θηριώδη παρ' ἑτέροις ἐπιτελεῖσθαι. ἀλλὰ μικρὰ ταῦτα τυγχάνει δείγματα τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν μετὰ τὸν θάνατον ἐνθέου ζωῆς. θέα δὴ καὶ ἕτερα τούτων μείζω, σκεψάμενος τίς πώποτε ἐν ἀνθρώποις τοσούτοις δὴ χρόνοις ὑπὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων, ἀρχόντων τε καὶ βασιλέων, πολιτῶν τε καὶ στρατοπέδων, δήμων τε καὶ ἐθνῶν, πολεμηθεὶς καὶ εἰς ἀεὶ πολεμούμενος τὴν ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον ἀρετὴν ἐπεδείξατο, ὡς ἀνθεῖν ὁσημέραι καὶ νεάζειν διὰ παντὸς τοῦ βίου. τίς δὲ καὶ ἄλλος τῶν ἐξ αἰῶνος ὁμοίως τῷ ἡμετέρῳ σωτῆρι ἔθνος τὸ μηδ' ἀκουσθὲν ἄλλοτέ ποτε ἐπ' ὀνόματι τῷ αὐτοῦ συστήσασθαι βουληθείς, τοῦτο οὐκ ἐν γωνίᾳ ποι γῆς λεληθὼς ἀλλὰ καθ' ὅλης τῆς ὑφ' ἥλιον ἱδρύσατο, δυνάμει θεϊκῆς ἐξουσίας πέρας ἐπιθεὶς τῷ αὐτοῦ βουλήματι; θεὸν δὲ μόνον τὸν ἐπέκεινα οὐρανοῦ καὶ τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου γνωρίζειν τε καὶ σέβειν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τίς πώποτε διδάξαι προὔθετο; κἄπειτα τοιοῦτον προθέμενος σκοπὸν εἰς ἔργον ἤγαγε τὸ κατόρθωμα, μόνον οὐχὶ δι' αὐτῆς ἐνεργείας φιλόθεον ἀποφήνας τὸ πεπραγμένον· ὃ δὴ καὶ μάλιστα πᾶν ἄθυρον ἀπέφραξε στόμα, ὅτι δὴ τὸν ἀνωτάτω κηρύξας θεὸν καὶ τοῦτον μόνον ἀληθῆ γνωρίζειν τοῖς πᾶσιν ἔθνεσιν ἐγκελευσάμενος, ὡς ἂν τὰ φίλα τῷ θεῷ βουληθείς, τῆς πρὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ πρεσβευομένου συνεργίας τε καὶ βοηθείας ἠξιώθη. τὰ δ' ἐπὶ τῷ τοιούτῳ κηρύγματι συμπαραληφθέντα μαθήματα καὶ πᾶσιν εἰς ἐπήκοον παραδοθέντα ἔργῳ τε κρατυνθέντα ὁποῖα τυγχάνει, θέα καὶ σκέψαι. ἢ τίς καὶ ἄλλος τῶν πώποτε, τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχὰς λογικῷ φωτὶ καταλάμψας, καταγελάσαι τῆς πατρίου πλάνης αὐτοὺς παρεσκεύασεν, ὡς μηκέτι λίθοις καὶ ξύλοις μήδ' ἀψύχῳ ὕλῃ τὴν θείαν περιάπτειν προσηγορίαν. Αἰγυπτίους δὲ τοὺς πάντων δεισιδαιμονεστάτους, ἀφ' ὧν καὶ εἰς Ἕλληνας τὰ τῆς πολυθέου πλάνης προῆλθεν, τίς ἄλλος πλὴν τοῦ ἡμετέρου σωτῆρος μηκέτ' ἀφρονεῖν ἔπεισεν, μηδέ γε θηρσὶ καὶ ἑρπετοῖς καὶ ζώων ἀλόγων τοῖς ἀτιμοτάτοις τὴν σεβάσμιον ἀπονέμειν τιμήν, μόνον δὲ τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων γνωρίζειν θεόν, καὶ διὰ παντοίων θανάτων ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀγωνίζεσθαι. τίς δὲ ἐξ αἰῶνος τὸ βλαπτικὸν καὶ ὀλέθριον δαιμόνων φῦλον, τὸ πάλαι πᾶσαν ἀνθρώπων φύσιν ἐπινεμόμενον καὶ διὰ τῆς τῶν ξοάνων κινήσεως πολλὰς ἐν ἀνθρώποις γοητείας ἐπιδεικνύμενον, ἀοράτῳ καὶ κραταιᾷ χειρὶ οἷα θῆρας δεινοὺς τῆς ἀνθρώπων ἀπεδίωξεν ἀγέλης; τίς δ' ἕτερος ὡς ὁ ἡμέτερος σωτὴρ διὰ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπικλήσεως καθαρωτάταις εὐχαῖς ταῖς δι' αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν ἀναπεμπομέναις τὰ λείψανα τῶν πονηρῶν πνευμάτων ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀπελαύνειν ἐπ' ἐξουσίας ἔδωκεν